


nomenclature

by helsinkibaby



Series: Right Beside Me Around Every Turn [11]
Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13172184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Chris knew there would be talk about her wedding to Tom. She just never expected this particular type of talk.





	nomenclature

Chris isn't naive enough to not know that there were always going to be any amount of comments made about her wedding to Tom. After all, she knows that the town has been anticipating such an event for literally years and she's in no doubt that if she and Tom had gone down the traditional route and announced an engagement, the ceremony would have been planned for them before the final words had left their lips. 

Denying the town the chance of an all out bush bash was never going pass without comment. The fact that they'd had no engagement at all - though Chris has heard more than one disdainful muttered sniff about the amount of time they'd spent living in sin - and had instead had a hospital, read death bed, wedding had sent the gossip mill into overdrive. 

Chris had expected that, Tom too. They'd even passed time in the hospital predicting reactions, down to who said what, complete with some pretty dead on impressions. Tom's take off of Vic in particular had made Chris laugh so hard she'd cried. 

What she hadn't expected though, what had never occurred to her, was the controversy that would erupt over her name, of all things. 

She'd expected it to be reasonably straightforward. Not that she was adverse to taking Tom's name, anything but. However, as she'd pointed out when they discussed it in the hospital one night, they were both doctors. And all over Cooper's Crossing, all over the district, the name "Doctor Callaghan" referred to only one person and it certainly wasn't her. Though he liked the idea of her changing her name, Tom accepted the point and they'd agreed that, for professional purposes, she'd stay Randall. 

The town, however, had other ideas. 

Living in sin, they could just about cope with. The "romance" of a hospital wedding negated the loss of a party. But a married woman not changing her last name? That simply would not do. 

So whether she liked it or not - and she didn't - Chris became Doctor Callaghan. 

And as she predicted it would, chaos inevitably ensued, with her and Tom being confused at every turn. 

Which was when the town came up with their idea of a compromise, one that started somewhere on a clinic run and stuck fast. Tom, as the original Doctor Callaghan, would remain so. Chris, on the other hand, they christened Mrs Doctor Callaghan, Mrs Doctor for short. 

Geoff and David found this hilarious and initially Tom did too, at least until he realised that Chris wasn't kidding about how much she absolutely hated it. "We'll just keep calling you Doctor Randall," he told her one night as she vented her frustration to him. "They'll catch on eventually." 

She only had to lift one eyebrow and give him a look for his shoulders to slump and for him to look down. "No they won't," she said flatly and he sighed as he agreed. 

"No," he said. "They probably won't. Stubborn lot around here." 

Chris could only laugh at the understatement. "If I'd known this would happen," she told him, "I'd have gone on living in sin." 

She expected him to joke about that. Instead he was very serious as he slipped his arms around her waist, looked down into her eyes. "No you wouldn't."

He was so serious that any jokes she might have been thinking of died in her throat which felt suddenly dry and far too tight. "No," she whispered, resting her palms on his chest. A familiar thrill of joy ran through her as she saw the rings on her left hand and she smiled as she let her head fall against his shoulder. "I wouldn't." 

As it turns out, a compromise is reached not through her efforts, not Tom's either. No, it came during a break in an all day clinic run when little Lucy Jones, all of nine years old who thought that Chris hung the moon and stars, announced to her parents, Tom and Chris and half the surrounding countryside, "You're all saying Doctor Chris's name wrong!" 

Mrs Jones looked appalled, the other ladies looked surprised and Tom was the first one to speak, a neutral tone to his voice and a blank look on his face that Chris knew was hiding amusement. "Oh? Why's that, Lucy?" 

Her response was one that no-one was expecting. "Well, she's a doctor like you, isn't she?" It was a genuine question, a frown on her face that negated any accusations of cheekiness. "But everyone is calling her Mrs Doctor Callaghan... she should be called Doctor Mrs Callaghan, shouldn't she?" 

She was so sincere, so earnest that Chris found herself hiding a smile, could see the other women around the room doing the same. Tom, of course, didn't bother to hide his. Instead, he dropped an arm around Chris's shoulder, fingers squeezing gently. "I reckon you've got a point there, Lucy," was all he said and Lucy looked delighted. It was all Chris could do not to roll her eyes - another district female already under his spell, she thought. Maybe he knew what she was thinking because he looked down at her then, lifted one eyebrow. "Tea, Doctor Mrs Callaghan?" and suddenly Lucy wasn't the only one under his spell. 

By the end of the clinic run, her new name was sticking and Tom slipped his hand into hers as they were walking back to the plane, something he never usually did. "I probably should have asked you how you felt about your new name," he began and she laughed as she shook her head. 

"Doctor Mrs Callaghan, you mean? It's ok... I actually quite like it." The memory of the faces in the room when Lucy had come out with her pronouncement made her laugh again. "Lucy Jones... pint size feminist. Who knew?" 

Tom's fingers tightened around hers. "That's the effect you're having on these girls, Chris... first woman doctor in these parts... they think they can be anything." 

Chris could feel her smile fading. "And yet the question I got asked most today was when we were going to start a family." 

Tom actually stopped walking. Chris stopped too, more than a little taken aback at the way the colour had drained from his face. "We can't-" he started, then stopped, shook his head. "Your heart-" he tried again and she took pity on him, squeezing their joined hands. 

"I told them they'd have a bit of a wait," she said. "Not why." The full details of her heart condition, just how serious it had been, still weren't widely known, even with the story of the hospital wedding, and she wanted to keep it that way. 

Tom looked stricken. "It's not that I don't want kids," he told her. "But if something happened to you..." He made a choked noise then, as if the notion caused him physical pain, and Chris was reminded in a way he didn't often let her see exactly how much of a toll her illness had taken on him too. He'd rarely let her see that, had concentrated on being strong for her, only letting brief glimpses flash through. 

"So we wait," she told him with a shrug. "At least until after my one year checkup." The look of relief on his face was almost comical. "Besides, I think I like the idea of just being Doctor Mrs Callaghan for a while." 

Tom's smile was the same one she'd seen in a hospital room in Sydney when she'd agreed to marry him. "Me too," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. 

"None of that!" Sam's voice from the plane was laced with good humour. "Save the canoodling for the Crossing, eh?" 

Tom and Chris were both laughing as they pulled back. "Never a good idea to upset the pilot I suppose," Tom allowed. "But when we get home..."

Chris grinned. "We'll pick up where we left off." 

Which is exactly what they did.


End file.
